Columbus Coffee Protein Boosted Smoothie Review

I have made an awesome discovery! I followed Columbus Coffee on Instagram a little while ago to enter a competition. I’m glad I kept following them because while scrolling through one day I saw that they had started offering protein smoothies. Of course I had to go and test them to see if they were any good.

I went and picked one up from my local to do the all important taste test and then emailed the head office to find out what the nutirtional profile of the smoothies looks like. Before I recommend anything to you guys I want to make sure it’s okay for us to be having and not laden with fat and sugar which could cause a dumping episode. This very much meets the nutritional guideline for post gastric bypass people but also you gastric sleeve and duoduenal switch lovelies would be good to go with it too!

I’m really glad to say that the taste test went well. It was a good smoothie and wasn’t too sweet which is something I struggle with now since it seems everything has so much added sugar. In terms of quantity it was the perfect amount and I felt really full after drinking it over about 45 minutes. There was no protein powder ick taste to it and I really enjoyed it. I think it cost me about $8.50 so while not cheap for a smoothie it’s not a bad price for a lunch out like it is for me.

When I got the nutritional information back I was really surprised. There are not too many ingredients in this smoothie so you can be sure there’s no unnecessary stuff in there. It’s literally just a mix of a vanilla whey protein powder, ice/water and some fruit pulp. I wouldn’t make a smoothie with fruit pulp at home but as something you don’t have everyday I don’t see anything wrong with it.

I have averaged the nutritional info out over the Berry, Tropical, Feijoa and Apple and Mango flavours because they have very similar levels of sugar in them. Lemon and Lime had a few grams more sugar in it so I omitted it from my calculations but the sugar level would be 2-3 grams higher than what I’ve calculated below. The nutritional breakdown goes something like this:

Total calories : 177 (or about 744 Kj)

Protein: 26.4 grams

Fat: 2.4 grams

Carbs: 11.3 grams (This is the total including the sugars)

Sugar: 10.4 grams

Firstly the protein content of this is huge. That’s 1/3 to ¼ of my daily protein needs so makes it a meal in itself. The fat level is low and the carbs are overall low too. The sugar is really not too bad either. I try and keep my sugar level below 5 grams per 100 grams for liquids and I would think the shake was about 200-300 ml so that easily fits in that criteria. Nutritionally you would be hard pressed to find anything as suitable that you can easily get your hands on while you’re out.

The other huge bonus is that Columbus Coffee is all over the place. It’s not in a little niche café that you have to go majorly out of your way to get to its easily available! I really want to applaud Columbus Coffee for coming out with this new range that suits an ever growing group of people like us bariatric folk. It’s easier to say yes to meet a friend for coffee or lunch if you know there’s a great option for you on the menu. I have only tried the Mango flavour so far but I am going to make it my mission to try all the different flavours. I would rate this smoothie 5/5 for nutrition, availability and yumminess!

While it may seem like I’ve been paid to write this post because I am so freaking excited about these smoothies I can assure you I haven’t been. I love sharing awesome new things that I find with you. Head office of Columbus Coffee very quickly and helpfully got me the nutritional information for me and that was appreciated.

Have you tried any of these smoothies at your local Columbus Coffee yet? Comment below and let me know if you have, what your favourite flavour is and if not what flavour you want to try first!

So AWESOME!!! Thank you Melissa – as always your posts are so useful 🙂 im meeting my sister for lunch in half an hr & i was just going to take a nothing naughty protein bar but now we are going to Columbus which is just around the corner from my work – YUSS!!!

This is awesome! I quite like Colombus Coffee but sometimes just need something a bit different without compromising the daily requirements intake. Really appreciate the research you’ve done here. Tino pai.